Not eating back calories after exercise.

chanellenoble

So I try to eat around 1,200 calories a day, and I try to do daily exercise, but not too much. Is it bad to then still only eat 1,200 and not eat back the calories you burnt? Or is it actually better to do it this way? Some days I'm torn and think "oh I can eat a little extra," others I think that I should stick to my 1,200 calorie goal even though I'm sure i've burnt a lot of calories. I'm only asking because my weight-loss has been rather slow and I'm not sure if its due to this or something else, and I'm just trying to narrow down the cause.

estatitra

This question has been asked million times and everyone has his own opinion. Please search the forum for "not eating exercise calories back" and you will find abundant threads about it.

new2locs

I'm no expert but I don't think you're eating enough especially if you're working out.

Sean_The_IT_Guy

People will tell you that you're killing yourself or starving yourself or will grow a second head, but it's impossible for anyone to diagnose your diet over the internet.

How much do you have to lose? Your profile picture is just your face, so it's hard to tell if you're obese, fat, chubby, or what.

If you feel healthy on 1200 calories, aren't always hungry, and have energy for your exercises, then you're probably doing ok. Only a doctor or other specialist can tell you for sure.

How much do you weigh? If you are a 6 foot tall woman of 250 pounds, thats PROBABLY too little.. but if you're 4 foot 8 and relatively slender, that's probably fine.

These are clearly extremes, not actual examples.

bottom line: if you are having issues, or concerned about your health, see a doctor. If you are feeling healthy and getting towards your goals, then it's probably fine.

Pearsquared

Your answers will definitely vary. My opinion is that the more you exercise, the more you should consider at least partially eating them back. Taking a walk? No big deal. Doing a lot of high-intensity training? Definitely eat some calories back.

laserturkey

I recommend you try eating your exercise calories back for a few weeks and judge for yourself whether that works better for you. I suspect it will, as long as you have reasonably accurate estimates of what you burn. I eat all my exercise calories back, and I am losing weight on 1600 calories a day PLUS those exercise calories.

SCSURaynmann

Eating back some of your exercise calories is important, and if you focus on a higher protein meal immediately after your workout, that would be the ideal way to eat back some of those calories as that will help your body recover more quickly from the exercise you just completed. Try to eat back some but not all as the calorie deficit is what causes the weight loss. MFP will squawk at you if you go below a certain calorie level and tell you to eat more. On my diet with allowed calories = 1600, if i go below 950 MFP squawked at me. I would guess at 1200 it would let you get down to about 750 before it warns you to eat more. Good Luck!

tbgree00

I've tried it both ways. When I didn't eat back I gave up within a month and went on a long binge. Now that I am eating back I've stuck with it 180 days and don't see myself stopping any time soon.

Eating calories back helps keep me sane and strong for working out, doesn't make all this feel like a sacrifice, and gives me freedom to grab a burger occasionally knowing I can "burn it" later that night or throughout the week. End of the day the numbers you see are artificially low to give someone who sits on the couch and doesn't move a chance at losing. I upped my activity level, eat all my calories, and still have averaged 1.56 lb/week weight loss since January. That was my established goal and I'm happy with that.

wifeymou1112

Hi,

When I started losing weight I was eating 1200 calories and it was dropping off. After a while of eating that much my body stopped losing fat, even when I exercised! I too wondered why!

I looked into TDEE-20% and started eating more! My total daily energy expenditure minus 20% meant that I should be eating 1860 calories a day. I looked it up on here and lots of people swear by it after hitting a plateau/ slow weight gain.. So I tried it!

I've been eating more this last week, more than I could have imagined eating at 1200 and... I have LOST weight! I'm finally into the tens (Stuck at 11 stone 2/3 for months!!!)

Winnning!

wifeymou1112

Also when you do TDEE-20% with harris benedict equation your exercise is already included so you can eat the same every day and forget about logging exercise calories :-D

FakingFitness

Your answers will definitely vary. My opinion is that the more you exercise, the more you should consider at least partially eating them back. Taking a walk? No big deal. Doing a lot of high-intensity training? Definitely eat some calories back.

Words to live by.

ctinawilson

Eat them back, is what I think most people will say. 1200 is pretty low and MFP does not include any exercise into that number (assuming you put sedentary into your settings and a high loss per week).

I've had more success losing weight since upping my calories from 1200 to 1400 and eating back the majority of my exercise calories (i'm 5'3, and very 'small framed'). Even now I think my calories may be slightly too low.

Everyone's different, but if you think of it this way; once you commit to this lifestyle, you're in it for the long run. Can you really see yourself eating only 1200 calories a day for the rest of your life? Instead, maybe you could look into what your TDEE is? Your BMR may even be higher than 1200 and if it is you really need to be eating more. Fore more info on all this, have a look at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013 - such fantastic, free advice from a really knowledgeable MFPer.

Good luck finding what works for you! :flowerforyou:

chezjuan

The MFP method assumes that you eat back your exercise calories, and they want you to have a net intake of your goal per day. If you are following their method, you may want to consider eating them back. I did throughout my journey and it worked fine for me (I was at a 1,000 calorie deficit - 2 lbs a week - for much of my loss).

If you do eat back your calories, you probably would want to only eat about 80% of them back if you are using the MFP burn estimates as they can be high.

VincitQuiSeVincit

This comes up again and again and there will always be differing opinions. The most consistent advice, and what has worked for me personally, is ending the day at my BMR (google BMR calculator to get your BMR estimate). Again, this number is an estimate just as anything else, but it is generally agreed that the healthiest way to treat your body is to give it that number of calories at a minimum.
So, my BMR is 1650 (about), I will eat about 1900-2500 calories and work out fairly vigorously most days. I have an HRM which estimates my burns, which can range between 300-900 calories. Eating 2500, exercising 900= 1600 net for the day. This has kept my energy up and my weight loss consistent.

rainydays5

I have struggled back and forth with this. So I have decided its how many calories I burn. I have a HRM and if I only jog/walk, burning anywhere from 250-400 calories, I usually do not eat them back. If I burn 500+ then I eat a few of them back, like extra portion of veggies, extra snack, things like that. I don't know if I would say it is working but I definitely feel healthier and have been losing many inches. lbs wise it is slowly coming off so I am happy with the results.

deksgrl

You are only 6 pounds from your goal. You should be set to lose half a pound per week. Not more than that. Are you still at 1200 calories with that?

chanellenoble

Thank you to everyone for your responses. I have to admit I was feeling a little paranoid about eating them back, as I'm not losing weight very quickly to begin with. I come from a family of people with slow metabolisms, so sometimes I feel as though if I eat 1,400 I'll just maintain. I guess I'll just have to do some experimenting and see what works for me. I'd hopefully like to be 5kg down by mid-september. Since my metabolism is slow I'm skeptical as to whether the online calculators would work for me but I'll try eating a few more calories a day and seeing how that affects my weight loss. And for those who asked I'm 165cm (5'5" i think) and 61 kg (Not sure what that is in lb).

chanellenoble

You are only 6 pounds from your goal. You should be set to lose half a pound per week. Not more than that. Are you still at 1200 calories with that?

That's what I thought, but it's been going very slowly the whole time, my goal wasn't very high to begin with (15kg). I'm still eating 1,200 calories.

jacksonpt

Read these:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/383956-exercise-calories-explained
and
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf

deksgrl

You are only 6 pounds from your goal. You should be set to lose half a pound per week. Not more than that. Are you still at 1200 calories with that?

That's what I thought, but it's been going very slowly the whole time, my goal wasn't very high to begin with (15kg). I'm still eating 1,200 calories.

It is a lot slower when you are closer to your goal weight.

jovalleau

I just did my TDEE calculation using the Harris-Benedict equation, and my TDEE was 3800! If I to -20%, I still have to eat 3000 calories (I work out 6 days a week). I sometimes have to force myself to eat my MFP default total of 2100! Sans going to fast food places every day I don't have the time or money to eat that much, haha. Oddly enough, these values come pretty close to what MFP gives when all is said and done.

At least I seem to be seeing progress in my plan, making sure to workout and log all my food every day, and that's what's important.

jacksonpt

I just did my TDEE calculation using the Harris-Benedict equation, and my TDEE was 3800! If I to -20%, I still have to eat 3000 calories (I work out 6 days a week). I sometimes have to force myself to eat my MFP default total of 2100! Sans going to fast food places every day I don't have the time or money to eat that much, haha. Oddly enough, these values come pretty close to what MFP gives when all is said and done.

That's good... both methods SHOULD end up being pretty similar in the end, assuming you use reasonable numbers in your calculations.

snookumss

If your calorie goal is only 1200, and your body fat is below I'd guess around 25% you should eat ALL of those calories.

jillianbeeee

Your answers will definitely vary. My opinion is that the more you exercise, the more you should consider at least partially eating them back. Taking a walk? No big deal. Doing a lot of high-intensity training? Definitely eat some calories back.

This. I agree high intensity training requires a few extra calories. I have been trying to think long term now and realize I wont be able to stick to 1200 calories for the rest of my life. Realistically, we have to think of this as a life change not a diet. Many years ago I was on other diets, ediets, atkins, south beach.....none of them were sustainable. This one is BECAUSE we earn calories through exercise. Its motivational to know that working out gives us more calories for a day. I am not saying we should go have an ice cream sunday as a treat but being able to have a glass of wine or an extra 2 ounces of chicken is awesome!

jacksonpt

Just as a follow-up... The more arbitrary you are about this, the harder it will be to evaluate what's working and what isn't. IMO, eitiher eat them all back or eat none of them back. Then, after a month or so, you can be reasonably accurate evaluating things and it will be easier to make the proper adjustments.

All this "listen to your body", "eat if you're hungry", "only eat part of them back" crap is nonsense (IMO), especially for someone just getting strated who doesn't know what their maintenance cals are or what they typically burn through exercise.